Guidance for Clubs to Aid members with Special Needs at Meetings

It is the responsibility of a club to ensure that anyone attending a meeting within university premises can be safely evacuated in the event of an emergency. To this end, all club members who would be unable to exit the building unaided (i.e. they must be able to manage stairs unaided and without inhibiting the egress of others) must have a Personal Emergency Egress Plan (PEEP) in place.

The process for this is:

President or Secretary of club establishes that there is someone in their membership in need of a PEEP and contacts our Departmental Disability Contact, at guidance-cll@strath.ac.uk with the member’s contact details and level of disability if known. This must be done in good time as the club member may not attend until the PEEP is in place.

The Departmental Disability Contact Adviser will contact the member and put in place the PEEP paperwork and share this with:

The club president

The CLL office

The member

The plan will include detailed instruction as to how to evacuate the individual safely in the event of a fire. Responsibility for this will lie with an individual (to be agreed) within the club.

It is strongly recommended that information about disability involving mobility is gathered when someone joins the club even if they have been attending for several years.

This is a legal requirement and if a club member refuses to participate in this process, they cannot continue to attend meetings.

It may be necessary to alter the location of club meetings in order to meet these evacuation requirements.

Students with Other Disabilities

There are a number of simple ways to assist those attending meetings who have a hearing impairment.

For members who are hard of hearing:

A loop system is in place in the Conference Room and all CLL teaching rooms. This consists of an induction loop (in the walls) and an overhead mike (usually above the teaching desk. This system can help those who have a hearing aid with a ‘T’ piece incorporated.

The switch for the system is on the wall usually near the light switch. If you are unsure, please ask in the CLL office on Level 7.

For effective use of this system, especially in a large and/or noisy gathering the speaker should stand as near underneath the mike as possible. Speakers should also bear in mind that some of those who are hard of hearing can lip read and therefore should always speak clearly and face the audience (e.g. do not speak while writing on a board or looking at the screen.)

When club members are speaking from the floor it may be advisable to ask them to come to the front so that they can be heard or the speaker should emphasise the important visual points on the slide so that these members get full benefit of the meeting.

For members who have a visual impairment:

All handouts and information are best printed in Arial format point size 14 for ease of reading.

Ensure that handouts are of good quality as they can often become faded and difficult to read.

Ensure that whiteboard/flipchart pens (if being used) are working correctly. Replacements can be collected from the CLL Office on Level 7.